Just keeping this blog alive.

 Just keeping this updated to keep it going.  

Blogging again....

What?  I am blogging again after I think 3 years!  I realized after looking back at my blog that it is an awesome family journal!  So here I am with a new goal to blog at least 1x a week. 

Our family is growing and learning every day.  Lauren is 13.  Yes we have a teenager...an awesome teenager that Ladd and I are so grateful for every day.  Miles is 11, another awesome kid (I guess we just have awesome kids), he loves Minecraft, computers and riding his bike.  Izzy is 7 and is our little strong willed, determined little girl.  We love her to pieces.  Sawyer is 4, will be 5 next month and makes us laugh every day.  We are so grateful for our little family and especially excited to welcome baby #5 in a few weeks.  He was a surprise, a happy surprise and cant wait to meet this little guy. 

Ladd is busy with his practice.  He opened up a second location in a pilates studio closer to downtown Kansas City.  It has kept him very busy and I am grateful for the knowledge he has to help people get out of pain and help better their lives. 

I am busy getting ready for this baby, It is amazing to me what gets done that you have been putting off for years (yes years) when you have a baby coming.  :)

That's it for now. 

Here is a belly pic of me a few weeks ago.

My Bedroom

Grandma Sue made her annual March Visit last week. It went by way too fast as always. We always come up with some project to work on and when she leaves we always think their is nothing else to do. But then the next time she comes, we always think of something. We end up shopping and shopping and then spend a day putting everything together and then return stuff and go get more stuff, all in between eating and taking the kids to do fun things too. This time, we did my bedroom. I absolutely LOVE it!

Thank you Sue for such a wonderful place to sleep in!

Lauren keeps bugging me

To update our blog.

So here goes....Miles is in Cub Scouts. I dont know anything about cub scouts. I grew up with 4 sisters. We didnt do scouts, or even girl scouts. I guess we did a lot of stuff scouts did though, living on a river and a forest in our back yard. We spent our summers catching water bugs, building dams in the river, swinging off rope swings, floating down the river, making forts in the forest, and cutting off barbie heads and arms, you heard me right. us girls didnt like barbies. We also sat around the table having burbing contests with the missionaries after having them over for dinner. And chasing baby opposums out of our house, and catching air while my sister Melanie drove super cool VW rabbit over this hill by our house. Ok, enough reminiscing, where was I? Back to scouting.

So we had our first experience with a Blue & Gold banquet at the beginning of March. Miles and I made this cake for it. He also did his first Pinewood Derby back in February, but I didnt get to see it because was chaperoning a dance. But Ladd sent me play by play texts and videos of it while I was at the dance and I cried while I was missing my boy's 1st pinewood derby. But on to the next years pinewood derby and Ladd says Miles is going to have an awesome car. Stay tuned for next year.

Here is the cake.
I say its pretty darn good. The canoes were rolled out tootsie rolls. We had fun.

My Cub Scout!

I am going to a concert

I am going out Saturday night. To a concert. With these girls....I cant wait. Carin is coming all the way from Oklahoma. Can we say party time?

I have never really been to a concert....they are going to break me in.

What Happened?

Wow...Sept 27 was my last post. Where did time go?

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New years and now we are almost the end of the month. We have had a great past 4 months. We spent Thanksgiving in Utah and LOVED seeing family and friends. We got stuck in the middle of WY for a night while they closed the freeway on us...a whopping 1.5 hours away from Salt Lake...Serious?

Christmas was wonderful.

We spent New Years Eve down in Oklahoma with our friends the Christensens and had an awesome time!

The big news is Ladd has decided to open up his own practice again...say what? Seriously you are asking? Yep I am 100% serious. He opens his doors Feb 1. He is very excited about what he is doing and I think I am too. No, Really I am.

I have a goal to post more and with more pictures.

Stay tuned.

Miles-isms

OK - there are enough ways that Miles has said stuff that it is worth of a post:

"Are we going to stay in the cabinets?" (cabinets=cabins)

Thingers - for fingers

"Daddy do you have any thread - you know, for my pencil that clicks it out?" thread=lead

Share your "isms" from your little ones....

Leaves!

I came home from Young Womens the other night to leaves all over my front porch. I have to admit that I was a little frustrated that leaves were all over my porch and sidewalk leading up to the front door. Just one more thing for me to pick up or bug my kids to pick up.

But then Ladd said "you better not be mad, look at these pictures." And then I looked at them and loved those leaves on my porch.

My kids were doing this.....
That is Miles on the left side and his friend Julia from across the street...


Glad they were not watching this....

Gardening...

When Grandma Sue comes into town...

We have lots of fun
We go shopping
We play
We dont sleep a lot
We laugh a lot
Ladd and I get to get to go on a date
We get really excited...

because we love her!

This last time she came....we were on a mission to get our front yard garden bed re-landscaped.

I have been around a lot of rain in my life growing up in Washington, but I have to say...Kansas sure does know how to put on a rain and thunderstorm. They are pretty amazing and when it comes to raining....Washington has nothing on Kansas....
So when it started to seriously pour down rain..we had no choice but to keep going...
Like I said, we were on a mission and determined to get it done. Lots and lots of work.

Cant really see the rain...but its pouring and we were soaking wet by the time we were done.

Eclipse

I went and saw Eclipse last friday...I love it. Here are the pics with the ladies.




Jacobs dad, Gil Birmingham...I think is his name...still havent checked to make sure I am right was there. Crazy people yelling and screaming and jumping over ropes to see him...How old is he? 50? How old were the people chasing after him? 13 maybe? Weird! I dont get it!

Silver Dollar City

As I mentioned in a previous post...we had a great time at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO...here are the pics finally.

I think this is my 5th post for the day...should be caught up now and filled my quota for the next 3 months :)

This was "Grandfathers Mansion" which made me sick.....everything is messed up in this house, the walls are and floors and ceilings are all messed up...you are walking up and thinking you are walking down or sideways or backwards. The kids loved it and went through it over and over....I could barely make it through once....I am getting old ;)



Their was this 4 story "treehouse" for the kids to play with and each level had these guns that shot balls...

Sawyer loved putting the balls in this "vacuum tube" that took the balls back up to different stories for people to shoot them back down with those guns.
Our cabin porch

Our cabin!
We loved the rocking chairs on the porch...
This is for the Grandmas....to see how much he has grown!
Sawyer loved this couch especially sitting on it all by himself...
The loft which the kids thought was the coolest part

Riding a bike without training wheels???

Isabelle as our daughter does not think we know anything as her parents. She told us she could ride her bike without training wheels...we told her we didnt think so...she said she did and we continued to go back and forth like this. So Ladd decided to take her training wheels off so she could show us how she could ride her bike without them...it lasted about 5 seconds...maybe not even that long and then they went back on.

Love how sawyer is half naked without shoes walking in the street....yes you can so tell he is my 4th :)

Last Day of School....

Principal who is sadly moving on to another school...He was the best principal!

Past 4 months update.....

OK...I am finally doing it.

Updating.
Starting with our trip to St. Louis 4 months ago...Really 4 months ago?
We went to the temple and then did some "tourist" stuff in St. Louis. Went to the arch and the most amazing Museum. I wouldnt call it a museum, more like one big GIGANTIC crazy playground indoors for adults and kids. I dont know how to describe other than to tell you to go there someday in your lifetime. It is worth it. The only bummer part was when we were in the bottom...as in underground in some "caves" with all kinds of crazy tunnels and nooks and crannies to explore...you can also climp up a 10 story spiral "freaken scary" according to my kids staircase in the middle of the caves and slide down a very scary rickety slide. As we finally we were at the top, we heard yelling at the bottom to come down immediately due to a tornado being on the ground. So we did and in comes the thousands...literally thousands of people into the "tornado safety area" which happens to be the really dark and hot and humid caves....great fun I tell you! So here are the pictures and if you ever have the opportunity to go to the "City Museum" in St. Louis...GO!







I am sorry...but I think she is the absolute cutest 4 year old alive....

In the "caves" waiting for the tornado to be over.....
Outside of the museum with this cool roof top playground that we didnt get to go on thanks to the tornadoes.